The First Cut is the Deepest
by Girl-Can't-Help-It
Summary: AU!Dean discovers he has a daughter.With her mother and grandfather dead,he and Sam have no choice but to take her in.How will Dean cope with raising a precocious 12 year old?
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer- So I know this has been done before, but I wanted to try one for myself. Obviously, it's AU. I'm going to try to make this one a little different, mainly since Dean is the same age as he is on the show, not years older, like he is in most of these kind of stories. So, I hope you enjoy, and please remember to review!**

_Every time she blinks  
She strikes somebody blind  
Everything she thinks  
Blows her mind  
That's my daughter in the water  
Who'd have ever thought her?  
Who'd have ever thought?  
That's my daughter in the water  
I lost everytime I fought her  
Yea, I lost every time_

_-Loudon Wainwright III_

_

* * *

_

"Did Bobby say what he wanted?" Dean asked his brother,Sam, as he pulled off the I 10.

"No," Sam said, tuning the radio dial. "He just said it was important and to get there now. I swear, this state has no decent music."

"Is it a job?"

"Dude," Sam sighed. "I just told you that I _don't know_. If I knew, I would tell you. But I don't."

"All right." Dean beat out a melody on the steering wheel. "You don't have to get snarky."

"Snarky?" Sam raised his eyebrows.

Dean shrugged. "It's my new word. That, and befundled."

"Right." Sam nodded. "Okay."

A few hours later, they were pulling up into Bobby's driveway. He met them at the front door, looking unusally serious.

"I think you guys need to come in and sit down." He said.

"Bobby," Sam asked, following him in. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain...in a minute." He answered.

One of the things Dean loved about Bobby's place was the fact that it never changed...except for the young girl sitting at his kitchen table, eating an apple and reading a book.

"Who is that, Bobby?" He asked. The girl looked up, first at him and then at Sam, her green eyes scanning both of their faces. There was something slightly familiar about her, but Dean couldn't put his finger on it.

"She's part of this, too." Bobby said. He montioned toward his couch. "Sit."

They sat. "What is this about?" Sam asked.

Bobby ran his hand over his face. The girl in the kitchen sifted loudly in her chair, still staying silent.

"Do you guys remember a hunter by the name of Lucas Sinclaire?" Bobby asked. "He had a daughter, Bethany?"

"Yeah," Sam answered. Dean was strangly silent all of a sudden. "We stayed with them one summer, remember Dean? About thirteen years ago, when Dad was on that Lady in White case in Cleveland?"

"I remember." Dean answered. His voice sounded funny.

"That's his granddaughter in the kitchen." Bobby told them. "Addison. She's twelve. _Twelve_, Dean."

Sam seemed to catch on first. "Oh my God. Dean, you didn't. You and Bethany?"

Dean smiled sheepishly in spite of himself. "All that summer. Why?" He still didn't seem to get it. Sam rolled his eyes and turned back to Bobby.

"Are you saying that the little girl in your kitchen is Dean's _child_?"

Bobby nodded. "Basically."

Dean jumped up. "What? My child? Are you sure?"

Sam rolled his eyes again. "Dean, look at her. She looks just like you when you were young."

The girl, Addison, had come to stand in the doorway. Dean studied her quickly. She _did_ look like he used to, the same sandy hair, green eyes, the freckles.

"I _am_ your daughter." She told him. "My mother didn't lie."

"Where is she? Your mother?" Dean asked in a strangled voice.

"She died." Addison said simply. "Two years ago. It was breast cancer."

"I'm-I'm sorry." Dean stammered. He sat back down, the force of the news he had just heard finally hitting him. He had a daughter.

Sam turned to Bobby. "I still don't understand. Why is she here?"

"My papa died last week." Addison answered. "He had a heartattack. He told me in the hospital to come here and that this man, Bobby, would take me to my father and my uncle. He said you would take care of me." Her eyes darted back and forth between Dean and Sam. "You will, won't you? I don't have anywhere else to go."

"Of course we will." Sam answered quickly, looking at Dean. "Family sticks together."

"What, we're just gonna take her on the road with us?" Dean asked skeptically. "Take her on hunts?"

"That's what I've been doing the past two years with my papa." She told him, glaring up at him. "I know what to do."

"We'll just let her bounce from school to school, like we did? I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"I can home-school. Like I've been doing." Addison sighed. "Look, if you don't believe you're my dad-."

"I didn't say that!" Dean interupted. "It's just the road is no place for a kid. Especially a girl. Isn't there someone else who can take you?"

"No," She said. "There isn't."

"Dean," Sam said gently. "We're the only people she has left. What if our dad has just dumped us off on someone else?"

"John never would have done that." Bobby added.

"We could have had normal lives!" Dean shot back.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't have been the same. We wouldn't be the same."

"All right." Dean relented, looking at Addison. "All right. You can come with us."

She smiled for the first time; a big, bright smile that changed her face and finally made her look her age. "Thank you...uh, what should I call you?"

"Let's just stick with Dean for now."

"Dean. Okay. Thank you, Dean."

He forced a smile. "Yeah. Don't mention it."

***

Several hours later they were on the road again, heading to their original destination of Southern Illinois. It was very late. Dean glanced in the review mirror, at the sleeping form of his daughter. She was laying under a pink fleece blanket, snuggled up to a Tinkerbell pillow. Dean snorted to himself. Tinkerbell.

"I hope this isn't a mistake." He said aloud.

Sam cut his eyes toward him. "Don't you want to know her?"

"Yeah, but I'm afraid she'll get hurt or something."

"She'll be fine." Sam assured him. "We'll just be extra careful, keep an eye on her."

"I guess." Dean didn't feel reassured. "She seems really smart. What did Bobby call her?"

* * *

"Precocious." Sam answered. "It means exceptionally smart; ahead of her age."

"I know what it means." Dean snapped, looking back at Addison again. He knew what Sam was saying, but was this the right thing to do?

"Dean," Sam said, almost as if he was reading his mind. "Everything will work out. You'll see."

"I hope you're right."


	2. Chapter Two

**Author's Notes: Well, I got a pretty big response to this story! Not a lot of reviews, but a ton of story alerts, which I guess means people like it. Yay! So here is the second chapter. Be prepared, a bit of fluffiness in this chapter, as Dean and Addison get to know one another. Not a lot of paranoraml in this chapter, but there will be more of that in the next few. I'll get them up as soon as possible. So...enjoy!**

Over the next couple of weeks, Dean observed his daughter from afar. In some ways, she reminded him of himself; always ready with a quick and sarcastic one-liner. In some ways, she reminded him of Sam; her nose was stuck in some book most of the time and she was always questioning everything. Mostly, though, she reminded him of her mother; there was just that certain drive that Bethany had also shown, the refusal of the word 'no'. She was still leery with him, but she had taken right to Sam. They were always talking and laughing, he had taken over as her "teacher", helping her with schoolwork. Dean didn't want to admit it, not even to himself, but he was a little jealous. After all, she was his daughter, not Sam's.

"It's been two weeks." Sam said to him early one Thursday afternoon. They were sitting in a park in Virginia, watching Addison swing on a swingset while they ate their lunch. "She's still calling you Dean."

"Well, excuse me, we just met after twelve years of me not being there. I'm sorry I haven't turned into Father freakin' Knows Best." Dean sat his sandwich down.

"You haven't even tried to get to know her." Sam pointed out.

"I know some stuff!"

"Oh yeah?" Sam raised a skeptical brow. "Like what?"

Dean started ticking things off on his fingers. "Her birthday's April 19th. Her middle name is Skylar. She likes....books and tinkerbell..."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Those are basic facts. Do you know her favorite school subject? Her favorite book? Color? What kind of music she listens too?"

"Do you?" Dean challenged.

"Yeah, I do. Because I _asked_ her. I _talk_ to her. We make _conversation_. Maybe you should try it, instead of barking orders or ignoring her all together."

"I don't ignore her!" Dean protested. "And I don't _bark_."

"Dean, she thinks you don't even like her. I know this 'daddy' thing is new to you, but you have gotta try. And yes, you do bark."

Dean ran his fingers through his hair and looked over at Addison. She was still swinging, staring off at something in the distance. "When do you think I should do it?"

"No time like the present." Sam smiled. "Go swing with her. Talk to her. You're good at talking to girls; it should be easy."

Dean cracked a small smile. "Haha."

He stood up and headed over to where Addison was swinging. "Can I join you?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Sure. If you want to."

He sat down, pushed off with his feet and started pumping his legs. "So...what's your favorite color?"

She looked at him funny. "Purple. What's yours?"

"Uh...black, I guess." He paused. "What's your favorite book?"

"Twilight."

"Oh, with the sparkly vampires, right?"

"Yeah." She drug her feet across the ground, stopping her swing. "Look, what's with the third degree?"

"Nothing! I'm just trying to get to know you better. You know, seeing as I'm your," He swallowed. "Dad."

"Oh," She smiled slightly then. "Okay. Hey, are we going to be going near the coast?"

"Yeah, probably. Why?"

"Can we stop at the ocean? I love the beach."

"It's October." He smiled though, glad they were finally having a real conversation.

"I know, but it'll be nice and empty. No annoying tourist with their plaid shorts and striped golf shirts." She grinned and started to swing again. "So can we? Just for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure we can." He grinned back at her.

"Cool. So...what's your favorite book?"

"I don't read."

"Oh," She nodded. "You mean you're illiterate?"

"No, I can read. I just choose not to." He paused. "Smart aleck."

She laughed. "Okay...favorite movie, then."

"The Shining, hands down. What about you?"

She thought for a second. "The Notebook."

Dean made a face. "Ah, come on! Not that romantic crap."

"It's a good movie! Have you even seen it?"

"Perhaps."

"You have!" She smiled again. "You like it, didn't you?"

"I don't understand the question and I refuse to answer it."

Across the playground, Sam watch his brother and his neice, _finally_ starting to get along. Maybe, just maybe they could make this work after all.

***

"You wanna sit up front, Addie?" Sam asked as they prepared to leave the park. "I can sit in the back for awhile."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah. Sit up front with Dean."

"All right." She said. "If you're sure you don't mind."

"I don't mind." He climbed in the back, pushing some of her things, that were scattered across the seat, over.

Addison sat in the front seat, snapping her seatbelt as her dad started the car. She sneaked a look at him. She had always thought she looked like her mom, but now she could see she had been mistaken. There was a definite resemblance to her father. Their noses were exactly the same, she noticed.

"Okay, kid, you've been studying my face for the past five minutes. Do I have a booger or something?" Dean asked, pulling out onto the road.

She smiled. "No. I was just noticing how our noses are the same."

He looked over at her. "Yeah. I noticed that too."

She looked out the window, then down at the radio, where Metallica was playing. "How do you listen to this...noise?"

He snorted. "Noise? This is Metallica."

"Who?"

In the backseat, Sam laughed. Dean looked at him i nthe rearview mirror. "Dude, it isn't funny. My own child doesn't know Metallica. What's your favorite band, Addie?" He asked. She started. This was the first time he had called her by her nickname. Did he really, _finally_, want to know her?

"Uh...well, I like Demi Lovato."

"Who in God's name is that?"

Sam leaned forward. "It's bubblegum pop, Dean."

"Ugh. Why am I not surprised that you know that, Sammy?"

Sam grinned. "I like to keep up with the teeny-boppers."

Addison turned around to look at him. "That is wrong on so many levels, Sam." She looked around. "So, how long till we get to the coast, Dean?"

"A few hours." He answered.

"The coast?" Sam asked.

"Dean promised we could go to the beach for a little bit." Addison said. "Where are we going from there?"

"To Bedford, New York." Sam told her. "Four young men have been found dead in the past two months, outside an old dance hall there."

"A dance hall? Do people still actually go to those?" She asked, wrinkling her brow.

"Well, this was bought out in the 70's. It's a bar now, called Kellie's." Sam pulled out some notes he had written. "I thought it was worth checking out, anyway."

An hour later, Addison had laid her head against the window. Sam was asleep in the backseat and her dad was concentrating on the road. He had told her they would be to the beach soon.

"I'm gonna pull in up here and get some gas." Dean told her, breaking her thoughts. "You want something?"

"A Pepsi and a Snickers." She said. "What about Sam? Should we wake him up?"

"No, I know what he likes."

While Dean was pumping gas, then paying, Addison changed the radio station. She found a local pop station, 104.7. Pink was playing as Dean climbed back in, handing her her soda and candy. He paused.

"You changed my station." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah..." She looked up at him, hoping he wasn't mad. "I've listened to your music for the past two weeks. Can you listen to mine?"

"I guess I can." He sighed. He listen to the woman with the rough voice singing.

_"So what, I'm still a rockstar, I got my rock moves and I don't need you."_

"So who sings this?" He asked. Grin and bear, he told himself. She's your daughter and this is what she likes to listen to.

"Pink." She told him. "This is probably my favorite song by her. Well, this or Stupid Girl."

"Hmm." He nodded, unsure of what to say. "Who else do you like?"

"Fergie, 3LW, Flo Rida, Usher, Justin Timberlake..." She shrugged. "I like a lot of music. Who do you like?"

"AC/DC, Zeppelin, Lynard Skynard, The Who. Classic rock, you know."

"Extremely classic. You could be Hyde."

"Who?"

She shook her head. "Hyde? You know, from That 70's Show?"

"I've never seen it."

"Really?" She seemed surprised. "That's practically my favorite show! Well, that or Degrassi. Have you ever seen that?"

"I've never even heard of it." He said.

"It's like a teenage soap opera. You can watch it with me, okay?"

"Pass." He answered.

"If we're going to make this work, we have to share interests."

He grinned. "You can share _my_ interests."

"Yeah, but your interests suck."

***

"Addison!" Dean yelled into the wind coming off the waves of the water. "Put your shoes back on! It's too cold for you to be going barefoot!"

"Listen to you." Sam told him, trying to talk loudly over the wind. "Sounding like a concerned daddy."

"Sam, please." Dean replied. "She's going to get sick if she doesn't put her shoes back on."

"Dean! Sam!" She hollered at them. "Come down here in the sand!"

"Come on, Dean." Sam practically dragged him down to the getty. "It's low tide, nothing to worry about."

"Look!" Addison was more excited than they had seen her. "Tide pools! Oh, look Dean! Jellyfish!"

"Don't touch it." Dean told her. "And put your shoes back on, okay?"

She sighed and sat down in a dry patch of sand. "Okay." She pulled her socks and her Converse sneakers back on.

"We have to go soon." Dean said. "We need to be in in New York as soon as we can."

She sighed again. "I know." She stared out at the vast horizon for a few seconds longer. "All right. I'm ready."

And with that, they headed back to the car.

* * *


	3. Chapter Three

**Author's Notes: Okay, starting to get more into the story now. Watch out halfway through this chapter, as my bf, my kids, and my little brother make cameo apperances. I was thinking, after I finish this, about making a prequel story of Dean and Addison's mother, Bethany's, relationship. You know, how they fell in love and whatnot. What do you guys think? Let me know!**

* * *

"This is so unfair!" Addison raged at her dad and uncle. "Why do I have to stay here in this...this...this _craphole_?"

"This is way nicer than most of the places we stay at!" Dean told her. "And you know why you're staying here! It's too risky! How many F.B.I agents have pre-teen girls with them?"

"How many F.B.I agents drive '67 Implala's?" Addison shot back.

"Really cool ones!" Dean's mouth twitched and Addison knew he was trying not to smile, which only made her more mad.

"Please." She said. "I want to help you guys."

"And you can help." Sam told her gently. "From the motel room. We can't risk having you seen, if there really is something nasty behind these killings. You're the weakest of the three of of us and it would surely go after you first. Do you know how bad your dad and I would feel if anything happened to you on our watch?"

And just like that, she was calmed down. Well, a little bit, anyway. "Yeah." She grumbled. "I know."

"So promise us that you'll stay here." Dean said. "And be good. Look," He picked up the remote. "You've got satalite, internet, a mini fridge. It'll be fun."

She sniffed and flopped down on one of the queen sized beds. "What if something happens to you?"

He looked at Sam, who suddenly decided he needed to "use the bathroom". Dean sat down on the bed beside her, putting his arm over her shoulders. "Nothing is going to happen to me. You don't have to worry; I've been doing this all my life."

"I know." She whispered, then turned and buried her face in his suit jacket. He was surprised. This was the most emotion she had shown him yet. He awkwardly patted her head.

"We're just going to question some people, Peanut." He said softly. "We don't even know if this is our kind of thing yet."

"Probably it is." Her voice was muffled, her face still buried in his chest.

"Everything will be-."

"Fine." She interuppted. "I know." She sat up and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her hoodie. "All right, I'll stay here. But you have to hang out with me later, if I do."

Dean held up his hand. "Scouts honor."

She looked at him, confused. "You were a Scout?"

"You have to be a Scout to say that?"

***

"Okay." Sam said as they pulled up in front of a medium sized brick house. "This is Josh and Elizabeth Reid. The first victim, Robby Sims, was her younger brother. He was," Sam checked his papers. "Nineteen."

"Let's do it." Dean said, straightening his tie.

They made their way up the front walk, dodging kid toys, to the door. Dean rang the doorbell. A tall, dark haired man answered. He looked to be in his early twenties.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

Sam and Dean flashed their fake badges. "I'm Agent Cornell, this is Agent Hammett. F.B.I. Are you Joshua Reid?"

"Yeah...Josh, that's me." He said, stepping aside. "Please, come in."

They stepped into the living room. It, too, was littered with toys and the tv in the corner blared 'Dora the Explorer'.

"I'm sorry about the mess." Josh said, leading them to the couch. "My wife isn't able to pick up after the kids like she used to, and since Robby, well...it's been even worse. I'm guessing that's why you guys are here? The deaths?"

"Of course." Sam said. "Could we possibly talk to your wife, Mr. Reid?"

"Sure. Bethy!" He called over his shoulder. When Elizabeth Reid walked into the room, Dean realized what her husband had meant when he said she couldn't pick up after their children like she used to. She was about eight months pregnant.

"Daddy!" A little brown haired girl ran in behind her mother. She looked to be about four and was closely followed by a boy who seemed about two.

"Becca, why don't you and Eli go play in the playroom while mommy and daddy talk to these men, okay?"

"Kay-kay!" She grabbed her brother by the hand and dashed off.

Josh turned off the tv and helped his wife settle into a chair. "Hon, this is Agent Cornell and Agent Hammett, from the F.B.I. They're looking into Robby's death."

The woman nodded and pushed her pale hair from her face. "Okay." She said, resting her arm across her huge stomach.

"Before Robby was killed, did he seem frightened?" Sam asked. "Or maybe, he said something strange?"

Josh and Elizabeth looked at one another, then shook thier heads. "No." She said. "Not that I know of."

"Wait!" Her husband said suddenly. "Bethy, he kept talking about that girl, remember?"

"Girl?" Dean asked. "What girl?"

"We don't know." Elizabeth answered. "He met her at Kellie's, he and his friends hung out there a lot. What was her name?"

"I don't think he ever said." Josh said. "He saw her there a few times." He cracked a small smile. "Maybe it was the ghost."

Dean and Sam exchanged looks. "Ghost?" Sam asked.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "It's just a stupid local legend."

"Well, we wouldn't mind hearing it." Dean told her. She looked at him funny, then shrugged. "Josh is better at telling it than I am."

"Well, in the twenties and thirties, Kellie's was a dancehall." Josh began. "It was owned by Carter Calhaun. The Calhaun's owned most of Bedford back then."

"They still do." Elizabeth put in.

"Anyway, Carter had a young daughter, Lillian. I guess she was about, what hon, seventeen or eighteen?"

"Something like that."

"Well, the story goes that Calhaun got involved in some "shady" business, moonshine or whatever, and when he couldn't keep up his end of the bargin, the runners killed his daughter."

"Where does the ghost come in?" Dean asked.

"Supposedly, they raped and killed her, then left her for her father to find, and now she haunts the building, exacting her revenge on the men that hang out there." Josh shook his head. "But it's just a story. We," he wagged his finger between himself and his wife. "Used to hang there, too, when we were younger. Never saw anything. A ghost didn't kill my brother-in-law. We just want to know who did and see that they're punished for it. My wife is thirty weeks pregnant. She shouldn't have to be dealing with this."

"We understand that, Mr. Reid, and we're here to find out who killed Robby." Sam said as he and Dean stood up. "We'll be in touch."

Once in the car, the brothers look at one another.

"What do you think?" Dean asked.

"I think that you need to get back to the motel room with Addie and I need to head to the library to research this Lillian Calhaun." Sam answered.

"I think you're right." Dean agreed. He dropped Sam off at the library and headed back to their motel. When he walked in she was laying on one of the beds, watching 'The Return of the King' on HBO and drinking a vanilla milkshake.

"Where'd you get that?" Dean asked, pulling off his tie.

"From the diner, two blocks over." She answered, not taking her eyes of the tv.

"Addison!" Dean threw his hands up in frustration. "I told you not to leave the room!"

"No...you said I couldn't go with you and Sam. You didn't say I couldn't leave the room." She finally looked at him, offered some of her shake. "You wanna drink?"

Dean tried to look mad, but failed. "Yeah." He snatched it from her hand and took a long slurp.

"So...what did you find out?" She asked as he sat down on the bed.

"Sounds like we're dealing with a ghost." He said.

"A ghost that's angry enough to kill people? That's rare, isn't it?" Addison asked, stretching out.

"Yeah, but it happens." He kicked off his shoes and layed back on the pillow, beside her.

"Where's Sam?"

"He's at the library, researching. The people we talked to said that the first victim mentioned a girl he met at the bar, then they told us a story about a supposed ghost that haunts the place."

"Let me guess." Addison said. "This ghost is a female who died a violent death?"

"Give the girl a doorprize." He said in confirmation, then turned over on his side to look at her. "Did your, uh, papa let you help with his hunts?"

She shrugged. "Sometimes. I did a lot of the researching, mainly. He did the actual catching."

"That's what he did with your mom, too." Dean told her, suddenly remembering.

"Did you love her?" Addison asked the question that had been on her mind since she met him.

"We were young." He said. "Barely eighteen; but yeah, I think I did."

"She loved you." Addison said. "She talked about you sometimes."

"Yeah?" Dean was surprised. He hadn't thought about Bethany in years. Of course, he hadn't had the living reminder of their three month relationship, either. "What did she say?"

"That she wished I could know you. She wanted to tell you about me, you know."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Then why didn't she? Your papa obviously knew how to get in touch with us."

"Papa would talk her out of it. I think he was afraid that if you knew about me, you would take us away and then he would be all alone." Addison smiled, but sadly. "It's funny, isn't it? The things we do for love and companionship. If he had let my mom tell you, I could have had you my entire life."

"Yeah," Dean said, sighing. "Funny."

* * *

Author's Note: So ends this chapter! In case you were wondering the names "Agent Cornell" and "Agent Hammitt" are actually Chris Cornell, from the band Soundgarden, and Kirk Hammett from Metallica. I had to work the rock names in there, didn't I?


	4. Chapter Four

When Sam came in, he found Dean and Addie lying on one of the queen-sized beds together, eating chinese takeout and watching 'Mean Girls' on TBS.

"Hey," Dean said, looking up. "We got you some sweet and sour chicken, it's on the table."

"Okay, thanks." Sam answered. He opened the paper sack on the table and removed the food, a carton of sweet and sour chicken, a carton of white rice, an eggroll, and three crab rangoon.

Addie sat up as Sam began to eat. "I'm gonna hop in the shower, guys." She said.

"What about the movie?" Dean asked, nodding towards the screen. On it, Lindsey Lohan and the other Plastics were doing their 'Jingle Bell Rock' dance. Addie shrugged.

"I've seen it fifty million times." She said, digging through her overnight bag. She pulled out some clean clothes and headed into the bathroom. Dean waited till the door was shut and he heard the water running before he turned to Sam.

"So, what did you find out?"

Sam swallowed a bite of eggroll. "Lillian Calhaun was a real person. It seems like the story that Josh Reid told us was true. Parts of it, anyway."

"What parts?" Dean sat down his chicken with garlic sauce and wiped his mouth.

"Well, for starters, her dad did own the dancehall, and he was involved in something pretty bad, probably mafia related." Sam took a drink of his Dr. Pepper. "I didn't find much on her death, only that she died 'tragically'."

"Yeah, papers tended to gloss things over in those days."

"Tell me about it." Sam sighed and sat back. "Tomorrow, I'm going to search through the county death records, see if I can dig anything up."

"And I think I'm going to go talk to some other victims family and friends, see if any of the other guys saw this girl that Robby Sims saw." Dean said, laying back.

"You think this could be the ghost of Lillian Calhaun we're dealing with?" Sam asked, slipping his shoes off.

"Right now, it's our only lead."

"What're we gonna do with Addison?" Sam wanted to know. "You saw how she acted this morning, she's not going to be happy to be left behind again."

Dean exhaled deeply. "I know. I'll figure something out."

***

Addison grinned. Her father and uncle were gone, finally. She had tried to play it cool by pouting and acting mad because they wouldn't let her go with them again today. She knew last night, when she heard them talking while she was in the shower, that she had to prove herself. She could help them, if they would just let her and stop acting like she was a precious china doll. So she formed a plan. As soon as they left, she too would go out and do some research.

She watched out the window until the Impala pulled out the motel parking lot, then she grabbed some jeans and a t-shirt out of her bag. She scraped her long, blonde hair back into a ponytail and slid on her shoes. She was ready.

The attendent at the small gas station pointed her in the direction of the library. She knew Sam had already checked there, but it seemed the most logical place to start to her. Maybe there was something he had missed.

***

"I cannot believe you forgot the ID badges!" Sam told Dean five minutes later as they whipped back into the motel parking lot. "What were you thinking about?"

"I'm tired!" Dean argued. "You're not the one sharing a bed with a twelve year old that kicks like a mule and grinds her teeth in her sleep!"

"Whatever." Sam rolled his eyes. "Just go get them."

"Hey, Addie, we forgot-." Dean stopped short. The room seemed like it was empty. "Addie?" He peeked into the bathroom. Nothing. She really wasn't there.

"Sam, we might have a problem..."

"Where is she?" Dean said a few minutes later.

"Wait, didn't she go to that diner, yesterday?" Sam asked. "Maybe she went back."

"We can check..." Dean said doubtfully.

"But you don't think she'll be there." Sam finished. "I know."

"She was acting awfully good natured this morning about being left behind."

"I noticed that too." Sam said. "You think she snuck out? Is trying to do a little detective work of her own?"

"God, I hope not."

Sam laughed and Dean shot him a dirty look. "I'm sorry! It's just, you know, you were so big on obeying dad when we were kids and now, your own child refuses to listen to anything you say."

"I fail to see how that's funny." Dean grumbled. "Addison is out there, wondering the streets on her own."

"Well, it isn't like Bedford is a major metropolis..." Sam started to say, but then stopped at the look on his brother's face. "You're really worried about her, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Dean said. "Besides the fact that we're in a strange town where something supernatural may or may not be happening, there's also the fact that she might mess up our entire investigation."

Sam sat back. "Okay. Well. The first thing we'll do is ask a few people if they've seen her." He ran his hand over his face.

Fifteen minutes later, they had their first indication on where Addison was.

"The library." Dean said, coming out of the little gas station across the street. "The kid in there said that a girl matching Addie's description was in here about forty-five minutes ago. She was asking how to get to the library."

"All right." Sam said, backing up and pulling out of the gas station.

Of course, as soon as they got the library, Addison wasn't there anymore, and while the librairian remembered seeing her, she didn't know where she had gone.

"Great." Dean slumped down in his seat as they drove away. "What now?"

"I don't know." Sam sighed. As much as he loved his neice, he was aggravated. They were losing time on this case. What if someone else got hurt? "I guess we could go-wait a second!" He slowed down. "Look at that!"

Addison was walking down the sidewalk in front of them, reading from a sheaf of papers and eating an apple.

"I'm going to kill her." Dean muttered.

"Dude, calm down." Sam told him, slowing to a stop. Dean jumped out of the car before it was even completely still.

"Addison Skylar!" He yelled. She whipped around, her eyes wide. When she saw Sam and Dean, she paled slightly.

"Uh, Dean. Sam." She said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Hi."

"Don't you 'hi' us." Dean told her. "You get in that car and I mean now."

"I was just trying to help-" She started, but Dean interrupted.

"We don't need your help." He said. "Just get in the car."

Meekly, she climbed in the backseat.

Dean turned around in his seat. "Do you have any idea what you could have done? You could have been hurt, you could have blown our cover. What in God's name were you thinking?"

Addison was crying. Sam felt bad. "Dean, it's not that big of a deal..." He said. Dean looked at him incredulously.

"Are you kidding? Not that big of a deal? Sam, she could have ruined our whole case!" He turned back to Addison. "We were out looking for you when we should have been solving this thing. If someone else gets hurt-."

"That's enough, Dean!" Sam interrupted him. "We've got her now, no harm, no foul."

As soon as they pulled up to motel, though, Addison was out of the car and running away down the street before they even knew what was going on.

"Now what is she doing?!" Dean said. "Addison!"

"You hurt her feelings, Dean." Sam said. "You shouldn't have acted like that."

"Like what?" Dean ran his hands through his hair.

"Like a stupid control freak." Sam sighed. "You stay here, I'll go find her. Again."

Sam climbed back into the Impala and drove off in the direction that Addie had gone.

Dean went inside the motel room and flopped down on the bed. Maybe he had been to hard on her. This whole parenting thing was hard. He knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk, but he thought he'd have an easier time of it since Addie was older. What a joke that was.

***

"Addie, you have to come back." Sam told her. He had found her in a little park, sitting on a swing, crying.

"He hates me." She whispered. "He doesn't even want me around."

"That's not true."

"And just when we were starting to get along, too. I had to go and mess it up, didn't I?"

"You didn't mess anything up." Sam wrapped an arm around her. "We know you were trying to help, but you can't help us right now. When you're older, then we'll talk, okay?"

"How old were you when you started helping your dad?" She asked.

"I was nearly fifteen." He answered. "Dean was over sixteen before dad let him help."

She slumped down in her swing. "Oh."

"Come on." He helped her stand up. "Let's go talk to your dad."

"Addison." He said when they came in. He crushed her in a hug. "I'm sorry I yelled."

"I'm sorry too, Daddy." She said, burying her face in his shirt front. Dean and Sam exchanged a look over the top of her head. It was the first time she had called him anything close to 'Dad'. "I just wanted to help you."

"I know."

"Are you still mad?"

"No, I'm not mad anymore."

"Okay." She wiped her eyes and sat down. "Uh, Sam?"

"What is it, Addie?" He asked.

"I found something at the library that you missed."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Runners didn't kill Lillian." She said, handing him a piece of paper.

"But the paper said she died tragically..."

"She did." Addison pointed to something on the paper. "But they didn't kill her. She killed herself."

"Oh God."

* * *

Author's Note: And so there you have it, Chapter Four. This was more of a filler chapter, while I thought out this case spome more. A much better, action paked chapter coming up next!


	5. Chapter Five

"I think I need one of those shirts." Addison said to Sam, while they ate caramel corn and watched a rerun of Gossip Girl on the CW. After Addison's little adventure the day before, he and Dean had decided not to leave her alone for awhile. Addison was emabarassed that they thought she needed a baby-sitter, but she knew deep down she had brought it on herself and she was just going to have to suck it up.

"What shirts?" Sam asked, putting a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

"Those ones, you know, that say like, 'My Dad went on a Hunt and all I got was this crappy shirt'." She smiled, and threw a kernel up in the air, catching it in her mouth.

"Show-off." Sam muttered. He bounced a piece of popcorn off her head.

"Oh, it's on!" She yelled, tossing more caramel corn at him.

When Dean came in five minnutes later, popcorn was still flying, and Addison and Sam were each jumping on a bed, pelting it at each other

"What's going on?" He asked, getting pinged in the head by a stray kernel. "Guys? Oh my God, you two are like five year olds."

Addison and Sam fell back on their beds, laughing. Dean rolled his eyes.

"When you're ready to hear what I found out..." He started.

"All right." Sam said, gasping to catch his breath. "We're done."

Dean gingerly stepped around the fallen popcorn and sat down on the bed.

"Okay, so Lillian did kill herself, about a month after she was attacked. And the other three victims mentioned seeing a girl, too. In fact, Caleb Milton, the third victim, even described the girl to his mother."

"What did she look like?" Addison asked, brushing popcorn from her long hair.

"Well, according the Mrs. Milton, she was tall, with dark red hair and green eyes." He pulled something out of his jacket pocket and laid it on the bed. "This is a picture I found of Lillian Calhaun."

Sam and Addie leaned over to study it. The girl in the picture had red hair, cut in a short bob, and long legs, which were shown off in her dress.

"She was a flapper." Addison said, taking in the girl's clothing and hairstyle. "That is so cool."

"Yeah, well, I found out where she's buried, too." Dean said smugly.

Sam looked up from the picture of Lillian. "Oh yeah? Where?"

"Right behind the bar, near where they're building a new edition."

Sam drew in a breath. "They're adding a new edition on? I bet you anything that's why Lillian's stirred up suddenly. They're messing with her home."

"It still doesn't explain why she's killing people." Addison said.

"Who cares?" Dean shrugged. "As long as we take her down and she can't hurt anyone else, that's all that matters."

"I say we do it, tonight, Dean" Sam said. "Get it over with."

"Come on, how're we gonna dig up a grave and salt and burn in the back of a bar?" Dean asked.

"We'll just have to wait til they close." Sam answered. "Then we can go."

Addison looked up hopefully. Sam was talking like both he and her father, were going to go, but they had said they weren't leaving her alone for awhile. Maybe...

"Can I come, too?" She asked pleadingly. "Please?" She turned to her father with puppy eyes. "Please, Daddy?"

It was the whole 'Daddy' that got him, Sam knew. Lately, Addie had taken to calling him that more and more and Sam knew his brother was eating it up.

"All right." Dean answered. "You can go."

"YES!" She leapt up on the bed and started to do the boogaloo dance. Sam and Dean had learned this was something she did when she got her way. It mainly consisted of her failing her arms and legs and shaking her butt.

"All right, enough boogaloo." Dean said, lifting her down off the bed.

***

Several hours later, Addison emerged from the bathroom, dressed from head to toe in black. "I'm ready." She said.

Dean looked at her, his mouth twitching. "You look like a ninja."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Ninja of the ni-i-ight." She sang in a high pitched voice. Dean grinned.

"You're goofy." He told her, ruffling her hair.

Sam came in from outside, where he had been packing what they needed in the trunk. "Why're you dressed like a ninja?" He asked Addsion. She rolled her eyes as Dean laughed. Sam looked confused. "What'd I say?"

"I'm gonna wait in the car." She said haughtily, sweeping past them in her all black outfit.

"You need to put some reflectors on, baby, or we won't be able to see you in the dark." Dean joked as she walked outside.

"Daddy!"

Once they were at the bar, Dean told Addison she could be the look-out while he and Sam dug up Lillian's grave. Basically she stood in the dark, holding the flashlight. She and Sam passed the time discussing some book he was having her read for school. Dean thought he had read it too, in high school, but he couldn't remember.

"So, what is this book?" He asked, tossing a shovelful of dirt out of the grave.

"Jane Eyre." Addison told him. "It's about a girl, an orphan. I'm not very far in yet, but it seems like a good book. Uncle Sam said it would be perfect for me."

Dean eyed his brother. "Well, Geek-Boy would know, I guess." He said. Sam opened his mouth to retaliate, but was cut off when Dean's shovel connected with something, making a loud bang.

"This is it." Dean said. He climbed out of the grave and broke open the coffin. "Salt, Addison."

She handed him the Morton's salt box; he liberally dumped the contents over the girls bones. Addison wrinkled her nose.

"It stinks." She said. Sam shrugged, dousing the skeleton with lighter fluid.

"What did you expect from an 80-year-old corpse?"

"I don't know."

Dean handed her the match. "Here, you can light it up."

Her eyes widened. "Really?" She took the match and lit it, then dropped it in the grave. Dean put his arm around her.

"Sammy teaches his lessons, I teach mine." He said. "Even if you don't want to be a hunter, you'll at least know how to protect yourself."

* * *

**Author's Notes: So ends chapter five! I had planned to do a little more with this case, but then I felt like I really didn't want to drag it out. I mean, they don't have a big adventure with every single job, right? I thought I'd just make this one simple, then do something bigger next time. I'm not 100 percent on where I'm taking this story yet, plus I'm preoccupied by my other story, Burn (you should check it out!). **


	6. Chapter Six

A couple of days after they left Bedford, Sam, Dean, and Addison stopped at a laundry mat in Ohio. Sam was folding some of Addison's clothing when he noticed that her underthings were full of holes. He paused, wondering how he had not noticed before now how few things she actually had. Then it occurred to him that she normally folded her own things, but today she had begged to go play at the arcade next door.

They were almost finished with the clothes when she came in. When Addison sat down, he noticed that her jeans were a good two inches too short, her sneakers were scuffed and dirty, and her hair needed a good trimming. Her bangs hung in her eyes like sheepdog. Looking closer, he noticed one final something and he leaned in to whisper to her.

"Addison?"

"Hmm?" She looked up.

"Why aren't you wearing a bra?"

She frowned. "I don't have one, Uncle Sam."

"That's it." He said. He turned to a woman near them. "Excuse me, ma'am? Could you please tell me where the nearest shopping mall is?"

"Of course." The woman smiled at the two handsome young men and pretty, but unkempt girl with them. "It's in Cedar Grove, about fifteen miles north of here."

"Thank you." Sam told her, turning back to Dean and Addison. "We're buying her some new clothes, Dean. She about to outgrow everything she owns. I don't know why I didn't notice it before. Addison, why didn't you say something?"

She looked down, clearly embarrassed. "I didn't want to bother you." She whispered. Dean put his arm around.

"Honey, when you need something, you tell me or Uncle Sam, okay? You're not bothering us."

"All right."

So, when they were done at the laundry mat, they headed to Cedar Grove. The first place they hit was J.C. Penny's. Hazarding a guess at Addison's size, Sam loaded his arms with jeans and t-shirts for her to try on, while Dean tried to help. They discovered that she wore a juniors size three in jeans and a small in shirts. After picking out at least seven pairs of jeans (and one pair of tan cords that she insisted on having) and about twenty brightly colored shirts (some were long sleeved, some short sleeved), they headed over to the intimates department. There, she picked out two packs of new underwear, three sets of pajama's, and a package of socks, then Sam had one of the dressing room attendants fit her for a bra.

"She's a 32 A." The woman told him. Addison ducked her head in embarrassment while her dad and uncle helped her pick out three simple, white, cotton bra's in her size.

After J.C. Penny's they went into the rest of the mall. At Claire's, she convinced Dean to let her get her ears pierced for the first time. They also stopped at Famous Footwear and bought her a new pair of pink Converse hightops.

"Ohh, let's go in here!" Addison drug them into Hot Topic.

"Daddy, can I have a New Moon hoodie?" She begged. "Puh-lease?"

"All right." He said.

"You know you're spoiling her?" Sam said.

"She's mine to spoil." Dean retorted, but he looked away. Sam caught Addison's eye and winked at her.

"This is a pretty cool store." Dean remarked, grabbing a red Led Zeppelin t-shirt in his size and throwing it down on the check out counter, beside Addie's hoodie.

Sam looked around at the other customers, the majority of which were teenagers. He was pretty sure he and Dean were the oldest people there. "If you say so." He paused. "After we get done in here, why don't you run her things out to the car and I'll take her down to that salon and get her hair cut."

"Why does she need a haircut?" Dean asked.

"Dude, look at her." Sam said.

Dean did look. He had to admit, her hair was kinda...straggly. "All right." He relented. "Thank God I just ordered a new credit card."

When they were all done at the mall, they decided to get a motel for the night. Addison threw away all her old clothes and changed into a new pair of jeans, a black t-shirt with a big rainbow colored peace sign printed across the front, and her new shoes. She pulled her hoodie on, tugging at her new bra.

"This thing is uncomfortable." She said. "Do I have to wear it?"

"Yes." Sam told her.

"You'll get used to it." Dean chimed in. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm starved." She said.

They went to a little diner down the road. Addison sat in the booth next to Sam, picking at her chicken fingers and cheese fries.

"What's the matter, peanut?" Dean asked. "You don't like your food?"

"It isn't that." She said. "My stomach hurts."

Sam felt her forehead. "I hope you're not coming down with something..."

"No." She rubbed her abdomen. "It hurts here."

"Hmm." Dean shrugged and took a bite of his bacon cheddar burger. "Well, eat as much as you can, okay?"

For the next ten minutes or so, Sam and Dean discussed the possibilities of a new case. Sam noticed that Addie was being awfully quiet. He looked at her and noticed her gaze was fixed somewhere over Dean's shoulder. He followed her sight line and it landed on a young boy, probably no more than fourteen. He was looking back at her and smiling.

Oh God. Sam mentally thumped himself on the forehead. Boys, already? Bra's, lame music, this kind of young girl stuff he could handle. Boys were a different matter. What was Dean going to say? He'd probably go ballistic! Luckily, he was too wrapped up in finding a new hunt to notice the mini romeo two booths down. At least, till they were leaving and the boy turned around to watch Addison's backside.

"What was that?" Dean asked once they were outside.

"What?" Sam asked, trying to play it cool.

"Was that kid in there looking at her butt?" He demanded.

Addie sat forward. "He was? Awesome! He was hot, wasn't he?"

"No!" Dean shouted. "I oughta go back in there, kick that little prick's-."

"Dean." Sam cut him off. "You can't beat up a teenager. That's illegal."

"He was looking at my daughter." Dean muttered, starting the Impala.

In the backseat, Addison giggled. "Cupid might have his arrows, but my Daddy packs a .38." She joked.

"Freakin' skippy." Dean said.

Back at the motel, Sam was looking up some things on his laptop, Dean was watching tv, and Addison was in the shower. Sam looked up from his computer, grimacing.

"You just had to buy her that cd, didn't you?" He asked Dean. The day before Dean had picked her up a Jonas Brother's cd and she had been playing it non-stop.

"How was I supposed to know it was a boy band?" Dean snapped, trying to hear the movie over the crooning coming from the bathroom.

_"When you look me in the eyes and tell me that you love me..."_

"The three prepubescent boys on the cover didn't tip you off?" Sam asked. He turned as Addie came out of the bathroom. "Addison Skylar, I swear to God, if you play that cd one more time, I'm throwing it out the window."

"Daddy bought it for!" She protested.

"That doesn't mean you have to play it constantly!" He waved her over. "Now, come and work on your school work." She sat down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. He tugged at her wet braid. "How does your stomach feel?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore." She said.

"Good. So, did you study those spelling words I gave you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, because I'm getting ready to quiz you on them."

She rolled her eyes. "Uncle Sam! A spelling test? That's lame!"

Sam cut a look at Dean, who was smirking, knowing how much she sounded like him. "Here." He handed a sheet of paper and a pencil. "Now, spell 'insecure'."

And it went on like this for fifteen words. When they were done, she handed it to him to grade. "You only missed two." He siad, pointing them out to her. " 'Raucous' is spelled _ous_ and 'prairie' has two _I's_ in it."

"Kay." She said. "I'm tired. Are we done?"

He smiled. "For tonight."

Addison climbed in bed beside her dad and snuggled up next to him. He put his arm around her.

"Are you feeling okay, baby?" He asked. "It's barely after ten and you're ready to hit the hay? That's not like you."

She shrugged. "I'm just tired." It must've been true, because within ten minutes she was asleep.

"I hope she isn't getting sick." Sam said worriedly. "It is flu season."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I bet you're the only hunter in the world who knows when flu season is." She laid his hand on Addison's forehead. "She still doesn't have a fever and she isn't throwing up or anything. I'm sure she's fine."

"I guess." Sam said uncertainly.

"She is." Dean insisted. "Now, tell me about this case."

"Well, it's really strange." Sam said. "Four eyewitnesses have reported seeing a spectral carriage."

"A carriage?" Dean looked up from his sleeping daughters form. "Like a baby carriage?"

"No, like a horse drawn carriage."

"And how do they know it's spectral?" Dean asked. "Maybe it's just some guy who doesn't like cars."

"Well, everyone who's seen it claims that you can see right through it snd it passengers." Sam told him. "And, one witness swears it chased him down the street."

"Really?" Dean shrugged. "I guess we could look into it. Where?"

"Coulterville, Texas." Sam answered. "About forty minutes East of Amarillo."

"Amarillo by morning..." Dean sang off-key. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Dude, shut up."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Sorry it's been so long! I've been caught up in my other story, Burn, as I know exactly where I'm taking it. This one I'm unsure on. Okay, a few people have asked me what season this takes place in. Honestly, I don't know. Oh, can anyone guess what's wrong with Addison (her stomach hurting, overly tired)? Let me know what you think!**


	7. Chapter Seven

The next morning, the three Winchester's sat at a booth in a place called Skinny's Diner, eating their breakfast before they hit the road. San and Dean had both ordered bacon, pancakes, eggs, and coffee. Addison wanted the waffles a la mode with chocolate milk.

"I think you need something a little more health, Bug." Sam told her.

"I can get what I want!" She snapped at him.

Sam was taken aback. It was the first time she had been actually rude to him, not just playing around. She had been being grouchy all morning.

"Okay, I just thought-."

"I don't care what you think!" She snapped again.

"I'll come back." The waitress said, hurrying away from devil child.

Dean gave his daughter a hard look. "Addison Skylar," He said. "I don't know what is wrong with you this morning, but you better appoligize to your Uncle and I mean now. He's just as much your boss as I am and you'll do as he says. If he says you're eating something healthy, that's what you're eating, you hear me?"

She looked down, scuffing her feet against the floor. "Yeah." She whispered. She looked at Sam. "Sorry, Uncle Sam."

"It's all right, Addie." He said, but he and Dean exchanged a Look. What was going on? Oh, they would find out soon enough.

A few hours later, Dean and Sam were discussing the new case and Addsion was alseep in the back. She let out a little whimper. Sam, who was driving, looked at her in the rearview mirror.

"What's wrong, Bug?" He asked.

"Stomach hurts." She said, clutching it.

"Are you gonna be sick?" Dean demanded. "Sam, pull over!"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not going to be sick. It just aches."

Her stomach pains came and went through the rest of the day. That night, they stopped at another motel. If the brothers were alone, they would drive straight through, but Sam didn't think that was good for Addison, so they stopped somewhere every night.

Dean and Sam were finishing carrying in their bags when a scream came from the bathroom. They both ran in. Addison was sitting on the toilet, looking at her panties. There were splotches of blood in the crotch area.

"I'm bleeding!" She said. She was so scared, she forgot to be embarassed that they were seing her like this.

Dean and Sam exchanged a look. Well, this certainly explained a lot.

"Am I going to die?" She asked.

"Oh, honey, no." Sam said gently. "Girls are suposed to bleed from...there."

"They are?" She sounded surprised and confused. "Oh."

"Why don't you get cleaned up?" Sam suggested. "And then we'll explain everything."

"Okay." She said.

Once they were out of the bathroom, Dean sighed. "Well, that explaine the mood swings and the stomach aches."

"Yeah." Sam opened his wallet and pulled out some bills. "You need to run down to that Convience store and get her some pads."

"You do it!" Dean pushed the money away.

Sam rolled his eyes. Trust his brother to act like an immature idiot when he needed him to be adult. "Look, either you go the stuff, or you can explain to her what's going on and how to use them."

"All right." Dean relented. "All right." He snatched the bills from Sam's hand. "Be back in a minute."

At the store, Dean just grabbed a bag of Kotex pads and threw them on the counter. "These are for my daughter." He explained. "She's twelve. Just got her first...one today."

"Hmm." The teenage girl behind the counter looked as if she couldn't care less. She just rang him up and handed him his bag.

By the time Dean got back to their room, Addison was sitting on their bed in her Jonas Brother's nightgown and he was talking quickly and quietly to her.

"So, this is supposed to happen?" She asked.

"Yep." Sam answered. "Totally normal. And these," He took the bag of pads from Dean. "These go in your panties, okay? To keep you from leaking everywhere."

"Gross." Dean said. Sam shot him a Look. "What? It is."

Addison went in the bathroom and closed the door. Why had no one ever told her about this period thing? She opened the bag and read the instructions, then did as they said. Okay, this felt more weird than the bra. Plus, it was super embarassing that Daddy and Uncle Sam knew she was bleeding down there. They would know every time, she reminded herself, they're the ones buying these stupid things! She sighed. Growing up sucked.

"Bug?" Uncle Sam was knocking lightly on the door. "You okay in there?"

"I'm fine." She opened the door.

"Here." Sam handed her two asprin. "Take these, they'll make your stomach feel better."

She swallowed them with a drink of Pepsi. "Can we order a pizza?" She asked.

"Yeah." Her dad said. He handed her the remote. "And you can pick what we watch tonight."

"Cool." She said, taking it. She settled on 'Smallville' while Sam ordered a large pepperoni pizza. "You think we'll get to Texas tomorrow?" She asked her dad.

"Probably." He answered.

"I've never been there." She told him.

"Really?"

"Nope."

"You'll like it." Dean told her. "Everything's bigger in Texas."

She rolled her eyes. "Daddy, you're so corny." She told him.

"Yeah, but that's why you love me the most." He said.

"I love you and Uncle Sam the same." She answered, resting her head against her uncle.

Sam was surprised. She had never told him that she loved him. "I love you too, Bug." He said, stroking her hair.

"Why do you call me Bug?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. You look like a girl who's nickname might be Bug, I guess."

She snuggled in between him and her dad. "Oh."

* * *

**Author's Notes: For all those people who guess that Addison was getting ready to start her period, brava! This chapter isn't super long, but the next one will be, plus Dean's going on his first date since discovering he has a daughter. I think Addison is going to be very jealous...**


	8. Chapter Eight

"What exactly are we doing here?" Addison asked peering into the backseat where her dad was sitting. She could barely make him out in the dark.

"Well, according to our witnesses, this road is where they all saw this carriage thing." Dean answered.

The three of them sat in a abandon drive way, across the road from a small brick church. They were sharing a bag of minuture candy bars and a case of Dr. Pepper between the three of them. It was a fairly warm evening, so they had their windows down. The church across the street was apparently having a youth chior practice. They had their front door open to let in the warm air. The Winchester's could hear their hymms from where they sat.

__

"For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley."

"How many times are they gonna sing that song?" Sam asked. "I feel like I could sing it along with them."

"Dude, you are so not the person to be singing church songs." Dean piped up.

"Up your's." Sam muttered. He unwrapped a Snickers and popped it in his mouth.

"You wish." Dean retorted, unwrapping a Kit-Kat. "Hopefully, we'll see this thing tonight."

"What if we don't?" Addison asked, drinking some of her soda.

"The we'll come back tomorrow night, Add." He said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm hungry." She whined. "And bored."

The brother's exchanged a Look. This is what they were afraid of if they brought her along on a stakeout.

"Here." Dean handed her a half a package of beef jerky he had bought earlier. "Eat this."

She took it. "But I'm still bored!"

"We could...play a game?" Sam suggested.

"Like what?" She asked skeptically.

"Um...I spy?" Dean asked.

"Lame!" She shot it down.

"How about the Alphabet Game?" Sam asked. Dean looked at him, surprised. They hadn't played that game in years.

"How do you play that?" She asked, curious.

"It's kinda hard to explain." Dean said. "How about we just show you?"

"Okay."

"All right. I'll go first." He thought for a minute. "Okay, A my name is Andrew, my wife's name is Allison. We come from Alabama, and we sell Apple Jacks. You next, Sam."

"B my name is Brandon, my wife's name is Brittney. We come from Boston and we sell...baseballs." Sam looked at Addison. "You understand how to play now?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Okay, my turn. C my name is Candace, my husband's name is Cameron. We come from California and we sell cat litter."

"Ew." Dean said. "Okay, let's see, D my name is Dean," He thurst his fist in the air. "My wife's name is Daphne. We live in Delaware and we sell....uh...dope."

"Dean!" Sam said.

"What? People sell it, you know."

The game went on for a few more rounds, getting crazier and crazier. When Dean said that his wife's name was 'Big Bertha' and that they sold boogers, Sam called it off.

"This is getting stupid." He said.

Across the road, at the chruch, the choir was done practicing. In the streetlight, Sam could make out about twelve people, ranging from his age down to a few girls Addison's age.

"Get down." he said. "We don't want them to see us."

Addison hunkered down in the seat. "Can we do something else?" She whispered.

They sat there till after midnight, waiting for this thing. They played games and sung stupid songs (Sam was very surprised to discover that both he and Dean remembered the words to songs they had sung as children) until about two. Dean and Addison had started up another song when Sam thought he heard something.

__

"The ants go marching one by one, hurrah hurrah! The ants go marching one by one, hurrah hurrah! The ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to suck his thumb, and they all go marching down, to the center of the Earth!"

"Shh!" Sam hissed. "Don't you hear that?"

"What?" Dean asked, leaning forward. He strained to listen.

"I hear it too!" Addison exclaimed. "That rattling noise?"

Dean listened closer. He did hear it, a faint rattling that was growing louder. At that second, a large, transparent horse drawn carriage passed in front of them.

"Did you see that?" Addison cowered in her seat. She felt like the passengers had been staring right at her.

Sam started the Impala. "We're following it." He said, speeding out onto the street. He hit the gas so fast, he threw Addison to the floor.

"Put your seatbelt on, Bug." Sam told her.

They were right behind the carriage now, going faster than Addison thought she had ever gone. She hurriedly buckled her carriage made a sharp turn. Sam followed it, turning so hard, Dean tumbled across the backseat.

"Whoa!" He said, cracking his head against the door. "This is exactly why I hate the backseat!"

"Shut up." Sam said, concentrating on the road. They followed the carriage into a graveyard, where it had stopped. The passengers, two women and a man climbed out. Beside Sam, Addison was whimpering in her seat, her eyes squeezed shut.

Sam reached across the seat and took her hand. "It's all right." He said quietly. "You're daddy and I aren't going to let anything happen to you."

"That's right." Dean whispered, squeezing her shoulder.

They watched as the ghosts walked out towards the cemetary, then they simply vanished.

"It's all right, Add, they're gone." Dean told her.

She opened her eyes. "That was the first time I ever saw a real ghost." She admitted.

"Really?" Sam asked. "I thought you went on hunts with your grandpa?"

"I did...but, well...he made me just sit in the motel room."

"Oh."

Dean sighed. "I don't know about you two, but I could eat the back end of a donkey. What do you say we hit up the twenty-four hour diner in town?"

Sam and Addison agreed, so ten mintues later, the three of them were sitting in a booth, waiting to order.

"Can I help y'all?" Their waitress, her name tag read 'Kourtney', had come over. Dean glanced at her, then took another look. Even Sam was staring, his mouth slightly open. She was blonde, with long legs and big boobs, barely concealed in her diner uniform. Her face was fairly pretty, too, but you had to get over her Penthouse body to notice that.

"Uh...we'll have...um..." Sam stuttered.

Addison rolled her eyes at their ridiculous behavior. "I want the number 3, with a Coke." She said loudly.

Her voice seemed to jar her father and uncle out of their trance and they placed their order.

"Dibs, dude." Dean said as soon as the Kourtney The Waitress had walked away. "I've gotta hit that."

"Dean!" Sam hissed, nodding his head towards Addison, who was staring at her father with wide eyes.

"Oh, uh, sorry Addie." He said. "You don't mind if Daddy has a date, do you?"

"I thought I was your best girl?" She said in a little voice. "You said I was!"

"You still are!" Dean hurried to assure her. "I just get lonely."

"You mean, for sex." She said, inspecting her fingernails, which were painted bright blue.

"Uh, yeah..." He answered. "You, uh, know what that is?"

She gave him a Look. "Dad. I'm _twelve_."

"I know, but you didn't know about your period, I just thought-."

"I know what it is!" She said.

Sam, wisely, decided to change the conversation. "So, that carriage-."

"What I don't know," Addison interupted. "Is why you want to do that with that women. She's only a few years older than me. It's gross.

Dean looked at Sam for an answer, but he just shrugged and held up his hands. "Well...erm..."

Luckily for him the waitress brought over their food then. Addison glared at her as she took her chicken strips. "Here you go, sweetie."

"What do you say, Addie?" Dean prompted. She moved her vicious glare to him.

"_Thank you_." She said loudly.

"She's so cute!" The waitress squealed, handing Sam his chicken ceaser salad. "Is she yours?"

"I'm not a dog, you know." Addie snapped. Sam, who was sitting beside her, snorted into his food.

Dean lightly stepped on her foot under the table. "She's my daughter." He answered.

"His _daughter_." Addison repeated.

"Is there an echo in here?" Sam joked.

Addie glared at him, too. How could he be making jokes, when this...this skank was batting her lashes and pouting her lips at Addison's daddy? She got it, okay? Her father liked to sleep around, but jeez, couldn't he at least stick to women his own age?

When they finished eating, Addison and Sam headed to the car. Dean stayed behind to pay at the counter and when he came out, he was grinning.

"Guess who has a date tomorrow night?" He asked, climbing in. Addison rolled her eyes.

When they got back to the motel, she was fast alseep in the backseat. Sam carried her into their room, laying her on the bed she shared with Dean. Dean slipped her shoes and her jeans off, leaving her in just her t-shirt and underwear. Then he and Sam went to sleep as well.

The next morning, when Dean came out of the shower, Addison was jumping on the bed, and she had the radio turned up full blast.

_"Tell your boyfriend, if he says he has beef, that I'm a vegatarian and I'm not effin' scared of him!"_

She was singing along with the song loudly. Dean reached over and turned the radio down.

"Where's Sam?" He asked. She shrugged, not looking at him.

"Did he say where he was going?"

Again, she shrugged, reaching over to turn the radio back up.

_"She wants to touch me, oho, she wants to love me, oho, she'll never leave me, oho..."_

He turned it back down. "Got down, okay, Addie."

She ignored him and kept on jumping. Dean was shocked. This was the first time she had blantantly not listened to him when he told he to do something.

"What's going on?"

She still didn't answer.

"Addison? Addison Skylar, you answer me, girl!" He shouted.

She turned and glared at him, jumped off the bed and stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door. That's where she stayed until Sam came back, carrying a box of glazed donuts, two coffee's and a small jug of chocolate milk.

"Where's Addie?" He asked, sitting the stuff down.

"She's locked herself in the bathroom." Dean said.

"Why?"

"How should I know? I'm only her father!" He yelled the last part at the bathroom door.

"Dude." Sam said. "Calm down before you have a anyurism or something. I'll talk to her." He knocked lightly on the bathroom door. "Bug? It's Uncle Sam. Can I come in?"

The door opened slightly and Sam slipped inside.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Nothing." She said.

"Don't give me that crap." He told, perching on the edge of the bathtub. "I know something's up. Now spill."

She sighed. "Well, if he wants to go out with that...that...woman, then that's just fine."

"This is about his date?" Sam wasn't surprised.

"No." She jutted her chin out stubbornly and Sam was struck at how much she resembled his father at that moment. "I could care less what he does."

Sam sighed. He didn't think he could fix this.

He couldn't. Addison spent the rest of the either glaring at or completly ignoring her father. She was as pleasent as could be to Sam, but everytime Dean even tried to speak to her, she'd clam up.

Finally, at 7:00, without a word to his daughter, Dean left for his date.

"Wanna get some chinese food?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." She answered. Her voice sounded funny and Sam realized she was trying not to cry. "Can we rent some movies, too?"

Forty-five minutes later, they were back in the room, eating food from The Panda Garden and watching Twilight.

"So, he's a vampire...and he sparkles?" Sam asked.

"Yep."

"Isn't that a little...gay?"

She stuck out her tongue. "I'm sorry, we can't all get off on Modern Marvels."

"You spend to much time with Dean." he said without thinking. Her eyes glazed over and she sat her food down.

"I'm not hungry anymore." She said and went into the bathroom.

Sam picked up his phone and hit the speed dial. This had to stop.

Across town, Dean was right in the middle of it when his cell went off.

"Ignore it." Kourtney gasped.

"I can't." He said. "It's my brother; they're might be something wrong with Addie."

"Dean?" Sam's voice came over the line. "You need to get back here right away. It's Addison."

Dean rolled off the girl and began pulling his clothing on. "What is it? Is she okay?"

"Just come back." Sam answered and the line went dead.

"I have to go." he told Kourtney.

"But...why?" She asked.

"Something's wrong with my daughter." He answered, before leaving.

He drove at breakneck speed all the way back to the motel, not sure what to expect when he got there. He burst into the room.

"Where is she? Is she all right?" He demanded.

Addison looked up from her spot on the bed. "Daddy?" She asked. "Your date's over?"

"No, I came back early, because of you-."

"You did?" She jumped up and gave him a hug. "Daddy, I'm sorry I acted like that."

He patted her head akwardly. "It's okay, peanut." He said, looking at Sam, who was grinning rather smugly. "It's okay.


	9. Chapter Nine

Bobby knocked on the door to room number 38 of the Red Door Inn. Inside he could hear the tv blaring, Dean saying something, then the door opened. Sam stood there, a large pile of clothes in his arms.

"Bobby, hi." He said, letting him in. The room was fairly neat, he was surprised to see. Probably Sam's doing.

Addison lay on her stomach at the end of one of the hastily made beds, leafing through a TigerBeat magazine with a boy band on the cover, and watching SpongeBob.

"Hi, Bobby." She said, smiling up at him.

"Hey." He answered.

She turned to Dean. "Can I go the park or something? This is boring."

"That's why I bought you that magazine!" he told her. "So you wouldn't be bored."

"Daddy." She said superiorly. "I've already read it twice."

"I'll take her to the park." Sam voulnteered. "Get your shoes on, Bug."

She rolled her eyes. "I hafta change first, Uncle Sam."

"What's wrong with what you're wearing?" He asked.

She looked down at her clothes, a black tinkerbell shirt and a pair of black cloth trackpants that said 'Daddy's Little Girl' in glittery neon pink writing across the butt.

"I'm not wearing these pants out in public." She said, grabbing some clothing from her bag. "Give me five minutes."

"So, uh, I see you're getting along." Bobby commented.

"Yeah." Dean grinned. "She's a pistol, isn't she?"

"You could say that." Sam said. "Or you could just say that Dean spoils her rotten."

"And you don't?" Bobby asked skeptically.

Sam grinned. "I didn't say that."

"Okay, now we can go!" Addison announced. She had changed into a long purple shirt, that hung past her butt, and a pair of black capri leggings. She had pulled her hair back into two pigtail braids.

"Oh, you won't wear the pants I bought you in public, but you'll go out looking like Pippi Longstocking?" Dean said.

"Who's Pippi Longstocking?" She asked, pulling her hightops on.

"Someone Taylor Lautner never played." Sam told her. "You ready?"

"Yeah." She hugged her dad. "See you later, Daddy."

Dean kissed the top of her head. "Bye, baby."

"Bye." she told Bobby.

"Bye."

"You guys be careful." Dean told Sam. He slipped him some money. "Buy her some ice cream or something, okay?"

Sam took it, rolling his eyes. "Okay."

After they left, Bobby looked at Dean. "I see what he means about you spoiling her." He shook his head. "Now, tell me about this case."

Dean filled Bobby in, on what they had seen and what they had heard. They had called him, because the day before, the carriage had finally suceeded in running someone down. He and Sam were no closer in finding out who was in the carriage or what it was doing on that road.

At the park, Sam sat on a bench, beside a young mother.

"Are you here with your children?" The woman asked, pushing her dark hair from her face.

"Uh, my neice." Sam pointed her out. "That's her, the blonde on the swings."

"She's cute." The woman said. "Those are mine, on the monkey bars." She pointed at two little girls, twins from the look of them, about seven, with their mother's dark hair.

"Cute." Sam said.

"I'm Wendy." she said. "And those are my girls, Heather and Erica."

"Sam." he said. "And my neice is Addison."

"Are you guys new to town?" She asked.

"No, we're just passing through." He answered. "On a road trip."

"Oh, just you and her?"

"No, her dad is with us too." Sam said. "He's my older brother."

"Oh." She smiled. "That's nice."

They made small talk for a few more minutes, then Addison ran over.

"Uncle Sam! Uncle Sam! Did you see me?" She said.

"I saw you, Bug." He told her. "Ready to go get some ice cream?"

"Yeah!"

He gave Wendy a discreet 'bye' and she smiled at him. He wondered what it was about men with children that appealed so much to women.

They went to Stuckey's Ice Cream Shoppe and got caramel malts, then they decided to walk back to the motel. Sam knew that Dean and Bobby would still be discussing the case and he didn't want to interupt.

Addison sighed loudly. "What is it?" He asked.

"I wish we could live in a town like this." She said. "And I could go to normal school with other kids."

Sam put his arm around her. "I wish we could, too." He said. "I'll talk to your Dad. You need to be with people your own age."

She looked up at him. "Where would we go?" She asked.

"Where would you like to live?"

She thought "Hawaii."

"Inland, Bug."

"Cape Cod." She finally said. "I like New England, plus we could be close to the ocean."

"And cheap seafood." Sam mused. "That will appeal to your father."

"You'll seriously talk to him?" She asked.

"I don't say things I don't mean." He told her, hugging her close to his side.

***

"Are you kidding?" Dean asked several hours later.

Addison and Bobby were taking the rented movies back and Sam thought it would be the perfect time to talk to his brother about settling down somewhere.

"Dean, she needs to be with other young people." Sam said.

"We're young!" He said. "And we're people!"

"You know what I mean!" Sam argued. "Being on the road all the time isn't good for her. She needs a stable home, to go to school and have friends. Don't you want Addison to have all the things you couldn't have?"

"Yeah." Dean sighed. "I do. Look, let me think about it while we finish this case, okay?"

Sam nodded. "Just keep in mind the cheap seafood." He kidded.

Dean smiled. "Umm, lobster." Maybe they could work something out...


	10. Chapter Ten

Three months later, the little Winchester family found themselves living in a small house in the town of Hamilton, Massachusetts. It was an old house, two story, three very small bedrooms, but the rent was cheap, and it was close to the middle school.

Sam had taken a job at the high school library, not the best paying postition nor the most glamorous, but he enjoyed it. Dean was working at a garage in town, fixing cars, a job that he seemed to like well enough. They had enrolled Addison at John Evans Middle School. When they had had her tested to enter school, she had tested out very high, college level in her reading even. However, Sam and Dean had decided to only skip her one grade and had her put into the eighth instead of the seventh.

They couldn't go by Winchester anymore, since Sam and Dean were supposed to be dead, so now they were the Brady's. It was Dean's idea of a joke, apparently. It was one that neither Sam or Addie found funny, but they were stuck with it now. Dean knew a guy, who knew a guy who had fixed up "legal" papers under their new names.

On this particular January night, as Dean drove home from work, he knew his family would be worried. The roads were coated in ice and the usual ten minute drive across town had turned into a forty-five mintue trek. He and Sam had put snow chains on the Impala's tires the month before, but it didn't seem to be doing any good right now as he slipped and slid all over the road. Finally, thankfully, he pulled into their driveway.

Sam was sitting on the couch, watching the History channel when he came in.

"Hey." He said, looking up from the tv. "We were starting to get worried about you."

"I figured." Dean said. "Where's Addie?"

"She's reading in her room." Sam told him. "After she looked in on her animals, of course."

Since they had moved here, it seemed like Addison had decided to take in every stray cat and dog she found. Right now she had three cats, Butterbean, R.C., and Suki, and a little mutt she called Scooter Pie.

"She wanted me to fix them some soup." Sam scoffed as Dean took off his shoes. "Give them a warm meal, she said."

"Did you?" Dean asked.

"Fix soup for a bunch of strays? What do I look like?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. "What did you fix them?"

Sam ducked his head. "A pan of gravy. It's freezing out there, Dean."

"I don't suppose you saved any of that gravy for me?"

"Addie wouldn't let me. But there's some potato soup on the stove."

Dean ate a bowl of soup with some milk, then went to check on Addison. She was laying in her bed, reading a book for school.

"Hey, sweetie." He said.

"Daddy!" She said, looking up. "I was worried about you!"

"I know you were." He told her. "But I'm all right."

He sat on the edge of her bed. All their furniture was second-hand, that was what they could afford when they moved in. Addison had covered the ugly flowered wallpaper in her room with wall-to-wall posters: The Jonas Brother's, Twilight, Justin Bieber, Usher, Justin Timberlake, and a hundred other people that Dean couldn't name. Her bedspread was bright purple (he had bought it new, with his first paycheck) and she looked so cute in her flannel pajama's.

"What are you reading?" He asked. She held up her American History text.

"Chapter 12 for tomorrow." She made a face. "We're learning about the Civil War, but don't tell Uncle Sam."

"Why not?" Dean asked, confused.

" 'Cause I don't want to be forced to watch some stupid documentary about it, that's why."

"Oh." Dean should have known.

Right after they had moved in, Addison came in, announcing that she was learning about the Spainish Inquistion, and Sam had made her watch a 2 hour piece all about it, so she could get a better "feel" for it. All it had done was put her, and Dean, to sleep.

"Guess what?" She asked.

"What?"

"Next month, we're having a Valentines Day dance. I'm on the decorating commitee." She smiled. "I'll need a new dress."

Dean smiled back. "Any excuse to shop, huh? So, a dance? That sounds fun."

"A boy might ask me." She said.

"What boy?" Dean asked sharply.

A dreamly look came over her face. "Drew Todd." She said.

"How do you know he's going to ask you?"

"Because he told Davey, who told Nick, who told Stacie, who told Amber, and Amber told me." Addison said. "Duh."

"Is he that boy who called here?" Dean asked, not sure he liked this.

"Yeah." She looked at her clock. "I'm tired Daddy, I'm going to bed."

"All right." He kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too. Night."

"Night." he covered her with her blankets. "Uncle Sam will be up in a few minutes, okay?"

"Kay."

A few minutes later, Sam came in. He kissed her cheek.

"Night, Bug." He said, pulling her blankets up around her. "See you in the morning."

"Night."

He turned off her light as he left the room, leaving her door open a crack, like she liked it, so the hall light would come in.

Addison snuggled down under blankets. She loved this, finally being normal, having friends, and maybe a boyfriend. She knew that if Drew asked her out, she'd have to hide it from her dad and Uncle Sam, or they would have heart attacks.

The next morning, She rolled out of bed when her alarm went off. Down the hall, she could here her dad humming as he shaved in the bathroom and Uncle Sam fixing breakfast downstairs.

She walked down the hall. "Almost done?" She asked. "I gotta go."

Dean wiped the remaining shaving cream off his face. "I'm done right now."

Addison did her bathroom business, then went back to her room to get dressed. She pulled on a pair dark rinsed jeans and light yellow sweater, then her boots. In this snow, they had all had to buy thick boots to wear. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail, wishing she could wear makeup. Some of her friends did, but Uncle Sam said not till she was thirteen. She sighed. Only four more months!

Downstairs, Sam was scooping some oatmeal into a bowl for Addie. Dean was already eating his, and drinking coffee.

Addison slid into her seat. "So, I have to stay after school today." She said, tsking a bite. "It's the dance committee's first meeting."

"All right." Dean told her. "But you come straight home after, okay? No going to the Blue Point with Amber."

"Dad, that's so unfair!" She whined.

"When you're in high school, you can hang out there with the high school kids." He said. "Don't fight me on this, or Sam will come over after he gets off work and walk you home himself, you got it?"

She widened her eyes in horror at the thought of being walked home by her uncle. "All right."

Her friends would probably like it, though, since they all thought Sam, and her dad, were hotties. Gross. She took a few more bites.

"Gotta go!" She kissed her dad and uncle on the cheeks. "Love you!"

"Love you, too." They answered as she rushed out the door.

"She tell you about this dance?" Dean asked.

"Yeah."

"And this Drew kid who's going to ask her?"

Sam nodded. "Yep."

"What do you think?"

"What do you mean, what do I think?"

Dean sighed. "Should we let her go with him, or what?"

Sam shrugged. "She's almost thirteen, next year she'll be in high school. She;s going to start dating sometime."

Dean nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of." He said.

* * *

Author's Notes: I finally know where I'm going with this story, and yes, there will be a sequal after I'm done with this one.


	11. Chapter Eleven

"Okay...now, turn slowly." Sam told Addison. She did as he said, slowly turning the Impala to the left in the large vacant lot. " 'Atta girl."

That morning, Dean had decided that since Addison was nearly thirteen, it was high time she learned to drive. He (and Sam, who thought he might be needed on this little adventure) had drove her to an old Food Lion parking lot on the edge of town.

It had started off okay.

"All right." Dean had told his daughter. "Put the car into drive."

She did.

"Now, ease slowly off the break." She removed her foot from the pedal. "Okay, push gently on the gas."

She pushed the gas pedal down and the Impala shot forward.

"Gently!" Dean screamed "Gently! **GENTLY**!!!"

"I can't stop!!!" Addison had screamed back. "**WHAT DO I DO-O-O!!!"**

Sam had nearly wet himself laughing. Dean had decided to walk to the bar down the street and get a beer while Sam taught Addison how to drive. After a few small mishaps, she got the hang out it. No way was she ready for the road (well maybe an empty back road) but she was doing good.

"Wait till I tell Drew I can drive!" She said. "All my friends will be so jealous!"

"Yeah, I bet they will." Sam said. "Listen, Bug, about this boy, Drew. Your dad has a mini stroke every time you mention him, you know that right?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I don't know why though. I mean, I'm twelve, it's not like I'm running off to get married."

"I know that, but your dad, he worries about you, and we both remember what it was like to be a teenage boy." Sam smiled sheepishly. "I think that he's afraid that Drew will be trying the things with you that he tried with girls when he was young."

"Is he not going to let me go to the dance with Drew?" She demanded. "Because that so un-!"

"No, no, no." Sam cut in. "You can go with the kid, if he ask you. Just...promise me that you'll try and go easy on your dad. It isn't easy for him, you growing up."

"Uncle Sam, he hasn't even known me for a year!" She said.

"Yeah, but you have to admit, you've grown up since then." Sam pointed out. "Like, when we met you, you weren't as interested in boys."

"Yeah." She said. "I'm tired of driving, Uncle Sam. Can we go home so I can call Amber?"

He smiled. That was her life now, boys and talking on the phone. "Yeah." he said. They switched places. "Let's go get your dad."

***

"He did not!" Addison squealed. She was talking on the phone to her best friend, Amber Arkins. "He did not! He said that! Ew! No, I don't like him, are you crazy? Oh my God. Oh my God!"

"Bug, let's take it down a notch, huh?" Sam said, looking up from the book he was reading.

She covered the mouth piece with her hand. "Hello, on the phone. No, Amber, it was my uncle. Ew! He's my uncle, that's so gross. He is not hot!"

Sam rolled his eyes as Dean came in snickering. "What's funny?"

"You. How does it feel to lusted after by thirteen year olds everywhere?"

"Shut up." Sam replied calmly. "They're always checking you, too."

Dean's eyes shone. "I know. The chicks, no matter how old or young, can't resist me."

"Daddy?" Addison had come back in. "Can Amber spend the night tonight?"

Dean glanced at Sam, who nodded. "Sure, Add, as long as her mom doesn't care."

"He said yes!" Addison squealed into the phone. "Okay, see you in a few minutes!"

She hung up the phone. "I gotta go clean my room!" She said, running up the stairs. A few seconds later, loud music poured down the stairs.

_"It's a love story, baby, just say yes..."_

Dean did his best to ignore the music and instead looked at the pictures on the mantel. Most of them Sam had made, taking the baby pictures Addison had of the first 12 years of her life, and pictures of Dean and photoshopping them together. The story they were telling people was that Dean was a widdower and Sam was a good uncle, helping raise his neice. So they knew they needed Dean in Addsion's baby pictures. There were some of him "holding" her as a baby, playing with her as a toddler and as a child, pictures of them at different birthdays. Sam had even added a crazy party hat on him in one of them. Dean had to admit that they looked real.

Some of the pictures, however, were real. Dean's favorite was the one that Sam had taken during Christmas. He had sat the timer on his camera to capture all three of them, the two brothers sitting on either side of the girl, she was wearing a Santa hat. Sam had had it blown up into an 8x10 and framed it. His other favorite was one he had taken of Addison and Sam. They were reading something together, neither of them had known their picture was being taken.

While Dean was looking at the pictures, the phone rang again.

"Brady Residence." Sam answered, shooting Dean a Look. Why, oh why, did he have to choose that name? Suddenly, Sam sat up a little straighter. "Ellen!" He said. "Yeah, it's me, Sam. How are you guys? Yeah, it's true Dean has a daughter. Yeah, I bet you're not!" He laughed. "Oh? Yeah, that would be great! Yeah, we'd like to see you and Jo, too. Yeah, sure. Okay, we'll be here. Bye."

"That was Ellen?" Dean asked as soon Sam hung up.

"Yeah. She and Jo are getting ready to pass through here and Bobby told them this was where we live. She was hoping they could stop in for a few days, meet Addie." Sam smiled. "It might be nice to see some familiar faces, huh?"

"You got that right." Dean said. "Did she say when they'd be here?"

"Few hours." Sam answered. "So we're going to have a house full of company, tonight, huh? Well, the Addison and Amber can sleep in my room on the air mattress tonight and Ellen and Jo can share Addie's bed."

"Amber will love that." Dean snorted.

"She's thirteen, Dean." Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"One word, dude: Mary Kay Letourneau."

"That's three words and that's disgusting." Sam told him. "So, you wanna order pizza for supper?"

"Meat lovers?" Dean's eyes lit up."

"I guess."

"Sweet."

A loud knock sounded on the door.

Dean answered. "Hey, Amber." He said.

A small, pixie of a girl, with wavy, dark brown hair and velvety, brown eyes bounced in. "Hi Dean!" She said. She saw Sam and stopped. "Er, hi Sam."

He smiled at her, feeling bad that she had a crush on him, even though he was thirteen years older than she was. "Hello Amber."

"Addie upstairs?" She asked, slinging a hot pink ADIDAS bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah, you can go up." Dean told her.

They waited a few seconds and then heard the girls shrieking in delight.

"You sure you want to deal with that all night, dude?" Dean asked.

"They're just sleeping in my room."

"Yeah, have you seen those two together? There will be no sleeping."

Sam shrugged. "At least I don't have to work tomorrow." He sighed. A night spent in the room with two giggly girls. Hoo-_RAY_.

Speaking of two giggly girls, they came barrelling down the stairs.

"Daddy!" Addison shouted. "Can we rent movies! Can we?"

"Calm, sugar." Dean placed one hand on each girls head. "Calm. And if Uncle Sam will take you guys to Blockbuster, then yes."

"Will you? Will you?" The girls jumped up and down, each of them grabbing one side of waist and nearly knocking him down.

"Yes!" Said Sam, laughing, trying to keep his balance. "Get your coats on!"

"YAY!" The girls jumped around some more, then put their coats on. Sam herded them to the Impala. Dean looked out the front window. Sam was sitting up front, like a chauffeur, with the two girls in the back. Addison was leaning over the seat, tuning the radio.

'_Ha_,' Dean thought. _'Poor schmuck, gotta listen the greatest hits of bubblegum pop all the way to the movie place.'_

He enjoyed the little while of silence while he could. He liked Amber and he loved Addison, but he had never realized how much racket two young girls could make until they moved here. He remembered back to five months ago, to the quiet, withdrawn girl he had first met. Sam had been right, moving here had done her a world of good.

He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer. Addie had been bugging him and Sam to cut back, but they hadn't yet. He sat at the table, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. He was glad to finally have a real home, but sometimes he really missed hunting. He knew it was safer for his child like this, instead of dragging her from place to place and job to job. Seriously, though, he missed the excitment, the new people. Seeing the same people day after day was boring. He'd do anything for Addison, though, and if this was what was best for her, then he'd stick to looking up cases on the internet and sending them Bobby's way.

That was just the way it had to be.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Dean was still alone when Ellen and Jo arrived. There were hugs all around and Dean showed them in.

"It's cozy." Ellen said, looking around the living room.

"It's a piece of crap." Dean corrected her. "But we like it for the most part."

Jo had wandered over to the mantal and picked up a picture. It was of him and Addison, they were standing front of the Impala and Dean had his arm around his daughter.

"This is her? Your little girl?" She asked.

Dean grinned proudly. "That's my Addison." He confirmed. "She's beautiful, isn't she? Wait till you see how smart she is, she's supposed to be in the seventh grade, but they tested her at high school level. Sam and I decided to put her in the eight grade though, we thought she shouldn't be too far ahead of other kids her age,-."

"Spoken like a true Daddy." Ellen sounded surprised. "And yes, Dean, she's beautiful."

Jo studied the picture closer. "She looks like you."

He smiled. "The nose, right?"

"Yeah, and the eyes, the freckles." She shook her head. "So, where is she? And Sam?"

"They went to rent some movies. Addie's best friend, Amber, is spending the night tonight. She, uh, doesn't know about us. In fact," he ran his hands over his hair. "The story we're telling people is that I'm a widdower raising my child with Sam's help. So, uh, if you guys could stick to that, it would be great."

"No problem." Ellen agreed.

"That explains how you got into all these baby pictures." Jo held out one of a two year old Addison, dressed as a mouse, with Dean grinning behind her.

"Sam did that." He explained sheepishly. "Speaking of Sam, I think they're back."

He _thought_ they were back? You couldn't miss those girls shrieking like monkeys.

"Daddy!" Addison burst through the front door. "We got Hell Hazers II and- oh." She just realized there were two strange women standing in her living room. "Hi."

"Hi." Ellen came forward first. "You must be Addison. I'm Ellen, and this is my daughter, Jo."

"Hi." Addison said again, smiling. "This is my friend Amber."

Before Amber could say anything, Sam came in, carrying grocery bags. He gave them to the girls to take into the kitchen while he hugged Ellen and Jo hello.

"What did you guys get?" Dean asked, picking up the phone to order the pizza.

"Ice cream, soda, chips, candy, and popcorn." Addison answered. She held up a box of Dots. "See?"

"Sam really doesn't want you two to sleep tonight, huh?" Dean asked. "Sugar AND horror movies. Now, what kind of pizza do we want besides meat lovers?"

"Pineapple!" The girls shouted. They headed into the living room to start the first movie and Sam went out to help the Harvelle's bring their things up to Addie's room.

After Dean placed the call to Pizza Hut, he went in to see what movie the girls were watching. He groaned as he recognized the opening scenes of The Notebook.

"Sam!" He demanded as his brother came in the house, carrying an overnight bag. "Why did you let them get this?"

Sam grinned evilly. "Because I know how much you love it." He said before going upstairs.

They all settled down to watch the movie together and wait for the pizza to arrive. When they heard gravel crunch in the driveway, Addison and Amber jumped up to look out the window.

"It's him!" Amber squealed.

"Dad, I wanna pay for the pizza!" Addison grabbed the cash out of her father's hand and the two girls ran to the door, Dean following close behind. When he got there, he found the young delivery boy smiling and talking to the two girls.

"_Ahem_." Dean cleared his throat and shot the kid a Look.

The kid's eyes widened slightly and he thrust the pizza's at him. "Uh, bye, Amber. Bye, Addison."

"Dad!" Addison said, shutting the door. "You scared him off!"

"If that kid is old enough to drive, he's too old for you!" Dean snapped, carrying the pizza's into the kitchen.

"He's not 'that kid'!" Addison told him. "His name is Mason and he's a _junior!"_

"Well, pin a rose on his nose." Dean said dryly. "He's too old for you. Now, eat your pizza."

The girls rolled their eyes and went into the living room to eat and finish their movie.

Ellen, Jo, and Sam came in to get some pizza.

"What was that about?" Sam asked as soon as he was sure the two girls couldn't hear him.

"What is everything about with her anymore?" Dean sighed. "Boys. The pizza delivery boy, to be exact. Look, you work at the high school. Do you know this kid, Mason?"

"Mason?" Sam asked. "Mason Bennett?"

"You know him?" Dean asked.

"You could say that." Sam rolled his eyes. "Let's just keep those girls away from him, okay?"

Jo leaned across the counter. "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"Well, he's fast, for lack of a better word." Sam said.

"Fast?" Jo snorted. "What is this, 1955?"

Dean glared at her. "No jokes, okay? This is my little girl we're talking about."

Jo held up her hands. "Down boy."

"Look," Ellen cut in before an argument could break out. "Dean, I know you're having a hard time with her right now, and as cliched as this is going to sound, it's just a phase. She's nearly thirteen, right?"

Dean and Sam nodded mutely.

"Girls that age care about three things: guys, their friends, and boy bands." She smiled lightly. "Let me tell you, when Jo was young she went through this Backstreet Boy's phase that wouldn't quit."

"Mom!" Jo was mortified as Sam and Dean laughed. "Shut up!"

"_Quit playing games with my heart...."_ Sam warbled at her in his horrible singing voice.

"Shut up." Jo snapped. "You can't sing."

_"I want it that way..._" Sam continued his Backstreet melody.

"What disturbs me is the fact that you even know a Backstreet Boy's song." Ellen said.

"Yeah." Dean said. "Where _did _you learn those songs?"

"Hey, I grew up in the 90's." Sam said in his defense. "I can sing you Spice Girls songs all night."

"Please don't." Jo said.

"Are you guys coming?" Addison yelled. "We're gonna watch Hell Hazers next!"

"Joy." Dean muttered.

A few hours later the movie was over, and everyone was winding down. Everyone except Addie and Amber, that is. They were still sitting in front of the tv, eating Jelly Bellies and watching Degrassi Goes Hollywood on TeenNick.

"Jay's defintely the hottest." Addie was saying, dumping a handful of jellybeans in her mouth.

"No way!" Amber said. "Sav is the best looking. I like guys with long hair." She glanced at Sam and his shaggy mop, blushing like crazy.

"Are you girls almost ready for bed?" Sam asked hopefully when Degrassi was over. Jo and Ellen had already gone to bed and Dean was asleep on the couch.

The looked at him incredulously. They were laying on the floor together in their pajama's.

"Uncle Sam, it's only 12:30!" Addison said.

"I don't care." Sam swictched the tv off. "Upstairs.

The two girls trooped upstairs with him following close behind. He had the girls in his room because Dean refused to sleep in anything but his underwear and he, at least, slept in pajama pants.

Addie and Amber climbed onto the air mattress, snuggling unde rthe blankets and giggling. He ignored Amber's eyes as he pulled off his shirt and turned off the light. It was quiet for a few minutes. Then-

_*Rustle Rustle- Giggle Giggle*_

"_Shh_." He said.

More giggling.

"_Girls_." He said with a warning tone in his voice.

Silence.

"Seven Days..." Addison said in a deep whisper and that set them off again.

"Addison Skylar!" Sam snapped. "Hush!"

They did stay silent and a few minutes later, Sam could tell by their deep breathing that both girls were asleep. So he rolled over and went to sleep, too.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Author's Notes: Sorry this is short, but my 2 year old has the flu and she's been throwing up, so I didn't get to write all that I wanted. Ah...the joys of motherhood. Anyway, i hope you enjoy, just a few chapters left for this story, and then the sequel. In case you're wondering, the sequel (it will be called Strong Enough) will feature a 16 year old Addie and be set during her senior year of high school. Craziness to follow!**

* * *

Three days later, Dean, Sam, and Addie were sitting in the kitchen, eating a quiet meatloaf dinner. The two men were discussing some case Bobby was on and Addison was mixing her corn and mashed potatos together and daydreaming about Drew Todd.

The phone rang, causing them all to jump.

"I'll get it." Sam said, reaching his long arms over his neice's head. "Hello? Uh, yeah, just a sec." He held the phone out to Addison. "It's for you. A boy."

She nearly choked on her food, then took the phone. "Hello?" She asked.

"Addie?" A male's voice came over the phone. "This is, uh, Drew."

"Hi, Drew!" She squeaked. She saw her Dad's head shoot up, and her uncle lay a restraining hand on his arm.

"I was just wondering, um," Drew sounded nervous. "Are you going to the dance Saturday night?"

"Yeah, I'm going." Her inside's were doing the conga.

"Well, you wanna go with me?" He asked.

"Yeah!" She said. "I'd like that. My Uncle Sam is driving me and Amber anyway, we can just pick you up too."

"Okay, cool." He said. "I'll just talk to you in school tomorrow, okay?"

"Kay."

"Bye, Addison."

"Bye." She hung up the phone, then let out an ear shattering shriek. "HE ASKED! OH MY GOD, HE ASKED!!!" She danced the boogaloo dance all around the kitchen.

Sam and Dean couldn't help but smile at how happy she was, even if they themselves weren't exactly happy about it.

"All right," Dean told her as she continued to dance. "Come sit down."

"I'm so glad Mrs. Arkins is taking me dress shopping tomorrow!" Addie said. "I have to look hot!"

"I don't think so." Dean said.

"Twelve year olds don't look hot." Sam added. "They look cute."

She sighed. "All right, I can settle for cute."

The next afternoon was strange for Sam. He was so used to having Addison at home with him, her poppy music blaring, hearing her talk on the phone, or watch some crappy teen show on tv. He switched on the radio, tunning it to a local rock station. The house was too quiet. He hummed along with the radio as he cleaned.

_"So, here I am, it's in my head and I'll savour every moment of it."_

Addison, on the other hand was riding in the backseat of Mrs. Arkins Buick beside Amber. Amber's older sister, Britney, was riding up front. She was fifteen. The four of them were headed for Boston, where they were going shopping.

"I'm so excited!" Addison bounced up and down in her seat. "Daddy gave me a hundred dollars to buy a new dress and some shoes."

"Are you getting heels or flats?" Amber asked. Addie shrugged.

"I don't know. Probably flats, or maybe a little heel."

"A kitten heel?" Britney turned around in her seat.

"I guess."

When they got to macy's, they went straight to the juniors formal department. It took the two girls nearly an hour, but they both finally found dresses they liked. Addison's was a deep purple, sleeveless chiffon dress that fell right above her knees. Amber picked out a short, electric blue halter dress. Addie really liked it, but knew her father would have an abesolute fit if she came home with a dress like that. Better to stick with the one she had. Besides, she thought, studying herself in the mirror. She looked good in this one. Mrs. Arkins was going to do her hair in a fancy updo and her dad had even relented and said she could wear a little makeup.

After they waited awhile longer for Britney to pick out a dress for the Sweetheart Formal that the high school was having, and the picked out shoes, they headed home.

Addison had picked out a simple pair of black shoes with a small heel, a kitten heel, and her first pair of pantyhose. She was so excited for this dance, and she was going with Drew. This couldn't be more perfect!

"Well, let's see your dress!" Uncle Sam said when she came in. She pulled it out of the dress bag. "Pretty."

"Yeah, you should see the one Amber got." She told him. "But I knew Daddy would never let me leave the house in that kind of dress, so I didn't even think about it."

"Smart girl." He said, inspecting the dress. "We're lucky he let's either of us leave the house at all."

"I heard that." Dean said, coming into the living room. "And in this house, I'm God. So get used to it."

Addison rolled her eyes. "What do you think of my dress, Daddy?"

He eyed it. "They didn't have anything with sleeves?"

Sam sighed. "It's a formal dress, Dean. You're lucky it's got straps."

"Amber got a halter dress." Addison said. "But I knew you'd like this one, Dad."

He smiled. "I bet you look very pretty in it, sweetie."

She let out a sigh od relief when he said that. When was her father going to realize she wasn't a baby?


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Author's Notes: Just one more chapter after this one! I've already started working on the sequel and another story!**

* * *

"Addison!" Sam said when she came down the stairs in her dress. "You look beautiful."

She grinned in her purple dress and black heels, her hair in a fancy bun with curls cascading down in the back. Mrs. Arkins had subtley applied make up on her face, but Sam thought you couldn't even see it.

"Where's your coat?" Dean asked, coming in. "You look very pretty, by the way."

"Thanks, Daddy!" She said. "Come on, Amber!" She called over shoulder.

Amber appeared in her bright blue dress, her hair a dark cloud of curls around her head. "How do I look?" She asked.

"Like a model." Dean told her. "Right, Sam?" He nudged his brother.

"Right." Sam said. He had to admit, that girl was going to break hearts when she got older.

"We're ready to go pick up the boys, Uncle Sam." Addie said.

"Not yet." Dean whipped out the camera. "Pictures first."

After a round of pictures of the girls alone and together, plus some of Addison with her dad and uncle, they could go. Dean made Sam take the camera, so he could take pictures of the girls with their dates.

In the Impala, Addie turned on some poppy music and Sam drove them four blocks over to pick up Drew and his friend Lance, who was Amber's date. Sam took a few pictures of the four of them together, then herded them to the car.

"This is your car?" Drew asked. "It's awesome! What is it, a '67?"

"Yep." Sam said. The four kids climbed in the back, leaving him alone in the front.

"My dad rebuilt it himself." Addison told Drew. "And I drove it."

"Wow." Drew and Lance sounded impressed.

Sam drove them to the middle school. "I'll be back at 9:30." He told them.

"Kay. Thanks, Uncle Sam!" the kids headed into the school.

"So, your Uncle seems cool." Drew told her as they put their coats up.

"Yeah, he is." Addie replied. "He helped my dad raise me."

"He did? Where's your mom?"

"She died a few years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Drew ran his hand over his thick, black hair.

"No, it's all right." She paused. "I love this song."

It was Pon De Replay by Rhiana.

"You wanna dance?" Drew asked. Amber and Lance were already on the floor

"Yeah." She said.

So they spent the evening dancing, eating cookies and drinking punch. Addison had never had so much fun and she really liked Drew.

"So, uh, it's almost time for your uncle to pick us up." He told her.

"Yep."

"Listen, Addison, um...do you want to be my girlfriend?" He asked.

She smiled and looked into his deep brown eyes. "Yeah." She said. "I do."

He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips before the teachers could see. She drew in her breath. Her first dance, her first boyfriend, and her first kiss all in one night! Of course when Uncle Sam and Daddy found out that she had a boyfriend, they were gonna flip their lids.

When the dance was over and they headed across the parking lot to the Impala, Drew slipped his hand into hers, a guesture that wasn't lost on Sam. Thank God Dean wasn't here to see this, he thought, as the foursome slipped into the backseat and Drew drapped his arm over Addie's shoulder.

Lance was trying to do the same to Amber, but she glanced at Sam and pushed his arm away. She knew that Addie's uncle was much too older for her...but she couldn't shake this crush.

They dropped the boys off first. As soon as they were driving away, Amber turned to Addison.

"He asked you out, didn't he?" She asked.

Addison nodded and whispered in Amber's ear.

"He kissed you?!" She squealed.

"SHH!" Addison hissed, but it was too late.

Sam glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "He kissed you, did he?"

"Are you gonna tell Daddy?" She asked in a small voice.

Sam smiled. "No. My lips are sealed; I don't want your little...boyfriend to get his butt kicked by your dad."

AMber giggled. "Your dad's hot." She said.

Sam put on a fake sad face. "What about me?"

Amber blushed. "You're still my favorite." She mumbled.

"How was the dance?" Dean asked as the girls came in.

They looked at one another, then ran upstairs laughing.

Dean looked confused. "What'd I say?"


End file.
